Objective: To perform gene expression profiling and real-time quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis to identify biomarkers of preeclampsia in cellular messenger RNA (mRNA) from maternal blood.
Methods: We performed a microarray analysis with five maternal blood samples from women with preeclampsia and five matched control subjects. Up-regulated gene expression was further analyzed through reverse-transcription PCR analysis with 28 consecutive blood samples from women affected with preeclampsia and 29 controls.
Results: Both pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein and trophoblast glycoprotein were selected based on microarray analysis. Reverse-transcription PCR analysis detected significantly increased mRNA concentrations among women in the preeclampsia group. When stratified according to mild or severe preeclampsia, 19.2-fold and 41.8-fold increases in pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein and 8.3-fold and 10.6-fold increases in trophoblast glycoprotein were observed, respectively. Among women with hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count syndrome, 51.6-fold and 13.1-fold increases in pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein and trophoblast glycoprotein were observed, respectively. In the preeclampsia group, pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein correlated with severity of proteinuria (P<.001) and systolic blood pressure (P=.01).
Conclusion: The mRNA expression of pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein and trophoblast glycoprotein is up-regulated in cells circulating within blood from women with preeclampsia, and pregnancy-specific beta1 glycoprotein expression is positively correlated with the clinical severity of preeclampsia.
Level of evidence: II.